1  -i.  yll-^^- 


PRINCETON,     N.     J. 


.svi<-//-.. 


Settle. 

iXuiiii 


^:? 


§^<^ 


l(o 


OF  A 
BY  THE 

PEIVXSYLVAMA    SOCIETY, 

FOR 

DXSOOURAGZNa  THE  USB 

OF 

TO    KXAMINK    AND    REPORT    WHAT    AMENDMENTS    OUGHT    TO    BE 
MAOB    IN    THE    LAWS    OF    THE    SAID    STATE,    FOR    THE 

SUPPRESSION 

OF 
PARTICULARLY  THOSE  AGAINST 

GAMIJVG. 


READ  AND  ADOPTED,  FEBRUARY  14,  19'4». 


PRINTED    BY    ORDER    OF    THE    SAID    SOCIETY. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

PRINTED    BY    ATKINSON    &    ALEXANDER. 

1828. 


REPORT,  &c. 


The  Committee  appointed  "  to  examine  and  report  what 
am,endments  ought  to  be  made  in  the  laios  for  the  sup- 
pression of  Vice  and  Immorality ,  particularly  those 
against  Gaming,^' 

Respectfully  report: 

That  the  subject  of  VICE  and  IMMORALITY,  particu- 
larly those  branches  of  it  which  immediately  relate  to  Drimk- 
enness,  Gaming,  and  Disorderly  sports  and  dissipatiouy 
has  not  escaped  the  attention  of  the  legislature,  and  accord- 
ingly many  wholesome  laws  to  correct  such  abuses  have  from 
time  to  time  been  enacted  and  are  still  in  existence.  Your 
committee  need  hardly  state  that  the  subject  is  one  of  a  very 
extensive  nature,  and  that  all  the  topics  which  it  embraces 
may  be  said  to  be  most  important  to  the  interests  of  the  com- 
munity. Drunkenness,  Profanity,  Horse-racing,  Gaming, 
Tippling-houses,  Foreign-Lotteries,  and  a  thousand  other 
crimes  whose  tendency  is  directly  to  affect  the  public  morals, 
come  within  its  pale :  some  of  these  offences  have  already 
been  referred  to  other  committees  appointed  by  your  body, 
and  therefore  preclude  your  committee  from  their  investiga- 
tion ;  whilst  others,  such  as  Foreign-Lotteries,  and  Oyster- 
cellars,  ought  to  be  separately  considered  by  special  commit- 
tees hereafter  to  be  appointed  ;  and  your  committee  believe 
they  discharge  their  duties  and  fulfil  the  intentions  of  this 
society  in  limiting  their  inquiries  to  Drunkenness,  Gaming, 
and  Violations  of  the  Sabbath.  Under  those  three  heads 
they  will  consider  the  laws  which  are  in  force  and  apply  to 
such  offences,  the  defects  which  exist  in  those  laws,  and  lastly 
the  remedies  which  your  committee  suggest  for  curing  those 
defects. 

I.  The  law  distinguishes  DRUNKENNESS  into  two 
kinds ;  Occasional  Drunkenness  and  Habitual  Drunken- 
ness, and  besides  annexing  to  the  latter  the  pains  and  penal- 
ties which  are  attached  to  the  former,  it  adds  the  loss  of  pro- 


perty,  both  real  and  personal ;  wisely  considering  the  habitual 
drunkard  as  a  madman,  or  7ion  compos  mentis,  and  there- 
fore incapable  of  managing  his  estate, 

1.   Occasional  Drunkenness. 

By  the  III,  IV,  and  XII  sections  of  an  Act  entitled  "  jin 
»B.ct  for  the  prevention  of  vice  and  immorality,  and  of 
unlawful  gamins^,  and  to  restrain  disorderly  sports  and 
dissipation.^^     (Purd.  Dig.  686,  last  ed.)  it  is  provided  that 

*'  If  any  person  shall  intoxicate  him  or  herself  by  the  ex- 
cessive drinking  of  spirituous,  vinous,  or  other  strong  liquors, 
and  shall  be  convicted  thereof,  he  or  she  shall  forfeit  and 
pay  the  sum  of  sixty-seven  cents  for  every  such  offence;  or 
if  such  person  shall  refuse  or  neglect  to  satisfy  the  said  for- 
feiture, or  goods  and  chattels  cannot  be  found,  whereof  to 
levy  the  same  by  distress,  he  or  she  shall  be  committed  to  the 
house  of  correction  of  the  proper  county,  not  exceeding 
twenty-four  hours. 

Sect.  IV.  The  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  severally, 
throughout  this  state,  every  president  of  the  courts  of  Common 
Pleas  within  his  district,  every  associate  Judge  of  the  courts 
of  Common  Pleas,  and  every  justice  within  his  county,  the 
mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  each 
of  them,  within  the  limits  of  said  city,  and  each  burgess  of 
a  town  corporate,  within  his  borough,  are  hereby  empower- 
ed, authorised  and  required  to  proceed  against  and  punish  all 
persons  offending  against  this  act,  and  every  person  who  shall 
profane  the  Lord's  day,  or  who  shall  profanely  curse  or  swear, 
or  who  shall  intoxicate  him  or  herself,  as  mentioned  in  the 
next  preceding  section  of  this  act;  and  for  that  purpose  each 
of  the  said  justices  or  magistrates  severally  may  and  shall 
convict  such  offenders,  upon  his  own  view  and  hearing,  or 
shall  issue,  if  need  be,  a  warrant,  summons  or  capias  (ac- 
cording to  the  circumstances  of  the  case,)  to  bring  the  body 
of  the  person  accused  as  aforesaid  before  him ;  and  the  same 
justices  and  magistrates  respectively  shall,  in  a  summary  way, 
inquire  into  the  truth  of  the  accusation,  and  upon  the  testi- 
mony of  one  or  more  credible  witnesses,  or  the  confession  of 
the  party,  shall  convict  the  person  who  shall  be  guilty  as 
aforesaid,  and  thereupon  shall  proceed  to  pronounce  the  for- 
feiture incurred  by  the  person  so  convicted,  as  herein  before 
directed  :  and  if  the  person  so  convicted,  refuse  or  neglect  to 
satisfy  such  forfeiture  immediately,  with  costs,  or  produce 
goods  and  chattels  whereon  to  levy  the  said  forfeiture,  to- 


5 

gether  with  costs,  then  the  said  justices  or  magistrates  shall 
commit  the  offender  without  bail  or  mainprize,  to  the  house 
of  correction  of  the  county  wherein  the  offence  shall  be  com- 
mitted, during  such  time  as  is  herein  before  directed,  there 
to  be  fed  upon  bread  and  water  only,  and  to  be  kept  at  hard 
labour  ;  and  if  such  commitment  shall  be  in  any  county  where- 
in no  distinct  house  of  correction  hath  been  erected,  then 
the  offender  shall  be  committed  to  the  common  gaol  of  the 
county,  to  be  therein  fed  and  kept  at  hard  labour  as  aforesaid: 
(here  follows  the  form  of  the  conviction.)  Provided  always^ 
that  every  such  prosecution  shall  be  commenced  within 
seventy-two  hours  after  the  offence  shall  be  committed. 

Sect.  XTI,  One  moiety  of  the  forfeitures  in  money,  ac- 
cruing and  becoming  due  for  any  offence  against  this  act, 
shall  be  paid  to  the  overseers  of  the  poor  of  the  city,  borough 
or  township,  wherein  the  offence  shall  be  committed,  for  the 
use  of  the  poor  thereof,  and  the  other  moiety  to  the  person 
or  persons  who  shall  prosecute  and  sue  for  the  same  ;  and  the 
inhabitants  of  such  city,  or  other  place  shall,  notwitstanding, 
be  admitted  witnesses  to  testify  against  any  person  who  shall 
be  prosecuted  for  any  offence  by  virtue  of  this  act,  provided 
always,  that  no  person  shall  be  prosecuted  or  convicted  for 
any  offence  against  this  act,  unless  such  prosecution  be  com- 
menced within  thirty  days  after  the  offence  has  been  com- 
mitted. 

One  of  the  great  objects  which  the  Legislature  had  in 
view  in  passing  these  laws,  was  to  prevent  and  punish  that 
species  of  drunkenness  which  is  publicly  committed,  and 
is  therefore  always  accompanied  by  some  gross  and  scan- 
dalous indecency,  and  yet  it  is  singular  that  these  laws, 
however  excellent  they  may  be  in  other  respects,  are 
in  this  particular  extremely  defe^ctive,  and  have  become  in 
a  great  measure  useless.  This  defect,  which  is  altogether 
practical,  arises  from  their  wanting  proper  clauses  provid- 
ing for  their  own  execution.  In  making  this  remark,  your 
Committee  are  not  to  be  understood  as  saying,  that  they  con- 
tain no  executory  provisions  of  any  description  ;  an  over- 
sight of  this  kind,  on  the  part  of  the  framers  of  them,  who 
seem  to  have  given  the  subject  of  occasional  drunkenness 
considerable  attention,  would  indeed  be  extraordinary.  For 
it  will  at  once  be  perceived  upon  reading  them,  that  they  do 
prescribe  a  manner  in  which  they  are  to  be  carried  into 
effect,  but  they  do  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  it  merely  the 
duty,  and  not  the  interest  as  well  as  the  duty  of  the  Officers 
of  Justice  to  see  to  their  execution;  so  that  if  the  culprit* 


6 

should  chance  to  have  no  property,  (and  these  are  mostly 
those  upon  whom  these  laws  do  operate,)  the  officers  can  re- 
ceive no  compensation  for  their  services,  and  although  they 
may  have  been  at  great  charges  in  conveying  such  persons 
to  the  Magistrate's  Office,  the  House  of  Correction,  or  the 
County  Goal,  they  are  not  even  entitled  to  reimbursement. 
A  Constable,  therefore,  who  sees  a  person  lying  intoxicated 
in  the  streets,  although  he  may  be  aware  that  it  is  his  duty 
to  carry  such  offender  before  a  neighbouring  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  in  order  to  procure  his  conviction,  will,  instead  of  feel- 
ing a  desire  to  do  so,  entirely  neglect  it ;  and  the  more 
wretched,  loathsome,  and  indecent  the  object,  the  less  in- 
ducement will  he  have  to  remove  it.  Thus  is  it  in  such  cases 
most  impolitic  and  unwise  to  make  the  Officer's  compensa- 
tion for  services,  and  the  expenses  attendant  upon  such  con- 
victions contingent  and  to  depend  upon  the  ability  of  the 
offender  ;  and  this  may  be  the  reason  why  the  drunkard  is 
so  often  seen  in  the  way  side,  even  on  a  Sabbath,  exposed 
for  hours  to  the  public  gaze,  and  outraging  all  propriety  by 
his  beastly  condition. 

Taking  human  nature  as  it  really  is,  and  not  as  it  ought 
to  be,  your  Committee  are  of  opinion  that,  in  order  to  have 
laws  of  this  nature  properly  executed,  the  execution  of  which 
is  always  a  disagreeable  and  oftentimes  a  most  irksome  task, 
some  reward  should  be  granted  to  the  Magistrate  and  Con- 
stable upon  their  due  execution,  by  allowing  them  a  reasona- 
ble compensation  for  their  services,  and  by  reimbursing  their 
necessary  charges  and  expenses  in  the  execution  of  their  du- 
ties, to  be  paid  out  of  the  funds  of  the  city  or  county  in 
which  the  offence  may  have  been  committed,  in  case  the 
offender  shall  be  unable  to  satisfy  the  same. 

2.   Habitual  Drunkenness. 

The  pernicious  effects  that  were  likely  to  result  to  the 
wife,  children,  or  other  connections  of  an  individual  in  pos- 
session of  property,  from  his  repeating  the  crime  of  drunk- 
enness, do  not  appear  to  have  presented  themselves  to  the 
consideration  of  our  Legislature  previous  to  the  year  1819, 
nor  was  it  thought  necessary,  before  that  time,  to  deprive 
the  habitual  drunkard  of  the  power  of  wasting  it  to  the  ruin 
and  impoverishment  of  his  family.  As  a  public  wrong, 
habitual  drunkenness  was  believed  to  be  sufficiently  pro- 
vided for  by  the  laws  against  occasional  drunkenness,  and 
the  Legislature  would  not  suppose  that  a  man  could  so  far 


forget  the  ties  of  blood  and  kindred,  as  to  bring  his  natural 
relations  to  want  and  misery,  merely  to  gratify  a  vitiated 
appetite.  Yet  such  is  human  nature,  and  such  the  powerful 
influence  of  the  vice  of  drunkenness,  that  it  banishes  from 
the  mind  all  other  considerations  save  those  which  relate  to 
its  immediate  indulgence ! 

Upon  the  existing  laws  against  habitual  drunkenness,  these 
observations  may  be  made — that  they  look  upon  it  as  of  a 
deeper  dye  than  occasional  drunkenness — that  they  presume 
the  possibility  of  the  habitual  drunkard's  reform,  and  there- 
fore offer  him  strong  inducements  to  correct  this  evil  pro- 
pensity— and  lastly,  they  endeavour  to  debar  him  of  the  ordi- 
nary ways  and  means  by  which  it  may  be  gratified.  Before 
your  Committee  recite  those  laws,  they  may  be  allowed  to 
express  their  sense  of  the  wisdom  and  foresight  which  mark 
many  of  their  provisions,  however  defective  they  may  be 
in  the  others,  and  their  deep  regret  that  they  are  not  oftener 
carried  inte  execution,  certain  as  they  are  that  the  execution 
of  them  would  more  than  once  save  many  a  respectable 
family  from  ruin,  and  many  an  unfortunate  drunkard  from 
destruction.  The  general  ignorance  which  prevails  in  the 
community  with  respect  to  them,  may  account  for  their 
very  rare  execution,  and  renders  it  highly  desirable  that  they 
should  be  published  in  such  a  mode  as  to  make  them  familiar 
to  every  member  of  society. 

ACT  of  25th  February,  1819.  7  Smith  p.  155. 
An  Act  relative  to  habitual  drunkards. 

1.  Sect.  I.  Upon  application  by  petition  of  any  relation 
by  blood  or  marriage,  of  any  citizen  of  this  commonwealth, 
setting  forth  that  such  person  by  reason  of  habitual  drunken- 
ness, has  become  incapable  of  managing  his  or  her  estate, 
and  is  wasting  and  destroying  the  same,  it  shall  be  lawful 
for  the  court  of  Common  Pleas  of  the  county  in  which  such 
person  may  reside,  to  appoint  commissioners,  and  issue  their 
precept  to  the  same,  who  shall  thereupon  proceed  in  the 
same  manner  as  has  been  heretofore  used  in  cases  of  persons 
noil  compotes  ■tnentis.  And  if  upon  return  of  the  commis- 
sion and  inquisition  thereon  to  the  said  court,  it  shall  be  found 
by  said  inquisition  that  such  person,  by  reason  of  habitual 
intoxication  or  drunkenness,  has  become  incapable  of  man- 
aging his  or  her  estate,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  said  court 
of  Common  Pleas  to  appoint  at  least  two  persons,  who  shall 


not  be  heirs  or  next  of  kin  to  said   person,  to  be   guardians 
and  trustees  of  said  person. 

2.  Sect.  II.  The  guardians  and  trustees,  so  as  above  ap- 
pointed, shall  have  the  care  and  management  of  the  real 
and  personal  estate  of  the  said  habitual  drunkard,  and  shall 
from  time  to  time  apply  so  much  thereof,  as  shall  be  necessa- 
ry, to  his  or  her  support  and  maintainance,  and  to  the  sup- 
port of  his  or  her  family,  and  to  the  payment  of  his  or  her 
just  and  lawful  debts  ;  taking  care  to  reserve  the  principal, 
unless  the  income  thereof  shall  not  be  sufficient,  giving 
security  to  the  said  court  for  the  faithful  performance 
of  said  trust,  and  duly  to  account  at  least  once  in  every  year 
for  such  estate,  property  or  funds,  as  may  come  into  their 
hands.  And  said  court  are  hereby  authorised  and  required 
to  settle  and  adjust  the  same,  without  fees  to  the  court,  the 
officers  thereof,  or  the  commissioners  to  be  appointed  under 
this  act.  And  it  shall  be  also  lawful  for  the  said  court,  in 
like  manner  as  in  cases  of  persons  non  compotes  meiitis, 
upon  such  examination  from  time  to  time,  as  they  may  see 
proper,  and  upon  petition  and  full  proof  being  made,  that 
such  habitual  drunkard  has  become  reformed  and  habitually 
sober,  to  discharge  the  said  inquisition  and  restore  him  or 
her  to  all  his  or  her  estate,  rights  and  privileges  :  Providedy 
That  the  real  and  personal  estate  of  such  habitual  drunkard, 
shall  not  at  any  time  be  liable  for  any  contract  made  by  the 
said  drunkard,  between  the  time  of  finding  the  inquisition 
aforesaid,  and  the  discharge  of  the  same  by  the  court  in  the 
manner  aforesaid  :  Provided  also,  That  no  petition  shall  be 
received  or  acted  upon,  from  a  wife  against  her  husband,  or 
by  a  child  against  his  or  her  parent. 

ACT  of  19th  of  January,  182£.  7  Smith  488. 
A  Supplement  to  the  Act  relative  to  habitual  drunkards. 

3.  Sect.  I.  It  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the  guardian 
or  guardians,  trustee  or  trustees  of  any  person,  found  by  an 
inquest  in  the  form  prescribed  by  the  act  to  which  this  is 
supplementary,  to  be  an  habitual  drunkard,  as  often  as  they 
shall  find  the  personal  property  and  proceeds  of  the  real  estate 
of  said  habitual  drunkard  inadequate  to  the  payment  of  his 
debts,  and  the  support  of  himself  and  family,  to  make  a  re- 
presentation on  oath  or  affirmation  to  the  court  of  Common 
Pleas  of  the  county  in  which  he  resides,  of  the  amount  of 
debts  due  by  him,  so  far  as  they   shall   have  come  to  tlieir 


knowledge,  and  the  sum  necessary  for  his  support  and  that 
of  his  family,  if  he  have  any,  and  of  the  amount  of  his  per- 
sonal property,  and  to  make  application  by  petition  to  said 
court  for  leave  to  mortgage  or  sell  a  part  or  the  whole  of  his 
real  estate ;  and  the  court  shall,  if  they  adjudge  the  personal 
property  and  proceeds  of  the  real  estate  inadequate  to  the 
purpose  aforesaid,  allow  the  said  guardian  or  guardians,  trus- 
tee or  trustees,  to  mortgage  or  make  sale  of  so  much  of  the 
real  estate  aforesaid,  as  said  court  shall  deem  necessary  for  the 
payment  of  the  debts,  and  the  support  of  the  said  habitual 
drunkard  and  his  family,  if  he  have  any. 

4.  Sect.  II.  Before  the  guardian  or  guardians,  trustee  or 
trustees  aforesaid,  shall  proceed  to  the  sale  of  the  said  estate, 
they  shall  give  at  least  thirty  days  public  notice  of  the  time 
and  place  of  such  sale,  by  ten  or  more  written  or  printed 
advertisements,  put  up  at  ten  or  more  of  the  most  public 
places  in  the  county  in  which  the  land  or  real  estate  lies ; 
they  shall  also  give  a  further  notice  of  such  sale  at  least  once 
a  week  for  three  weeks  successively,  in  one  or  more  news- 
papers printed  and  published  in  the  said  county;  but  if  there 
be  no  newspaper  or  newspapers  published  therein  at  the  time, 
then  in  one  or  more  newspapers  that  may  be  published  nearest 
thereto;  and  they  shall  also  give  such  other  or  further  notice 
of  such  sale  as  the  aforesaid  court  in  its  discretion  may  deem 
necessary.  And  the  guardian  or  guardians,  trustee  or  trustees 
aforesaid,  shall  bring  their  proceedings  and  sale  into  the  court 
of  Common  Pleas,  at  the  next  regular  term,  and  the  said  court 
shall  have  power  to  confirm  or  set  aside  the  same,  as  to  them 
shall  seem  most  proper:  Providedy  That  the  guardian 
or  guardians,  trustee  or  trustees  aforesaid,  before  they  pro- 
ceed to  mortgage  or  convey,  shall  give  bond  with  sufficient 
surety,  to  be  approved  of  by  the  court,  to  dispose  of  the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  sale  in  discharge  of  the  amount  borrowed,  or  of 
the  debts  of  said  habitual  drunkard,  and  for  the  maintenance 
of  himself  and  family,  if  he  have  any,  or  to  pay  over  the 
same  to  the  successor  or  successors  of  such  guardian  or  guar- 
dians, trustee  or  trustees,  or  to  the  said  habitual  drunkard, 
if  he  shall  become  reformed  and  habitually  sober,  or  to  the 
heirs  and  legal  representatives  of  said  habitual  drunkard,  as 
the  case  may  be. 

ACT  of  2d  April,  1822.  7  Smith  p.  604. 

A  further  Supplement  to  the  act,  entitled,  '  An  Act  relative  to  habitual 

drunkards. 

5,  Sect.  I.  Upon  application  by  petition,  of  one  or  more 

2 


10 

persons  related  by  blood  or  marriage  to  any  citizen  or  in- 
habitant of  this  commonwealth,  who  may  not  be  seized  or 
possessed  of  any  estate,  setting  forth  that  such  person  has 
become  an  habitual  drunkard,  to  the  great  injury  of  himself 
and  distress  of  his  family,  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the 
court  of  Common  Pleas  in  the  county  in  which  such  person 
resides,  to  appoint  commissioners,  and  issue  their  precept  to 
the  same,  who  shall  proceed  agreeably  to  the  first  section  of 
the  act  to  which  this  is  a  supplement,  and  if  upon  return  of 
the  commission  and  inquisition  thereon,  it  appears  that  such 
person  has  become  an  habitual  drunkard,  to  the  injury  of 
himself,  or  injury  and  distress  of  his  family,  the  same  pro- 
ceedings shall  be  had  as  are  directed  by  said  act. 

6.  Sect.  II.  If  any  innkeeper,  distiller,  grocer,  or  other 
person  shall  receive  notice  from  the  guardians  or  trustees  of 
an  habitual  drunkard,  not  to  sell  him  any  liquor,  and  shall 
after  said  notice,  sell  to  such  habitual  drunkard,  or  to  any 
person  for  him,  any  wine,  spirituous  or  mixed  liquors,  every 
such  person,  shall  on  conviction  thereof  before  any  mayor, 
alderman  or  justice  of  the  peace,  forfeit  and  pay  a  fine  of  tea 
dollars  for  each  and  every  such  offence,  which  fine  or  forfei- 
ture shall  be  recoverable  as  other  debts  of  the  same  amount 
are  by  law  recoverable,  one  moiety  thereof  to  the  super- 
visors of  the  highways,  for  the  purpose  of  repairing  the 
streets  or  roads  in  the  ward,  borough  or  township  wherein 
the  same  shall  have  been  recovered,  and  the  other  moiety  to 
the  person  who  shall  sue  for  and  recover  the  same. 

From  the  whole  scope  and  language  of  the  preceding  laws 
it  may  be  inferred,  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Legisla- 
ture to  consider  habitual  drunkenness  as  a  crime,  to  distin- 
guish it  from  occasional  drunkenness,  and  to  inflict  upon  it 
other  punishments  than  those  to  which  it  was  already  sub- 
jected, in  consequence  of  falling  in  some  measure  under  the 
denomination  of  the  latter.  Those  punishments  are  inflicted 
upon  an  offender  only  through  the  medium  of  his  property; 
why  the  laws  did  not  extend  the  punishments  farther,  so  as 
to  meet  the  offender  who  had  no  property,  is  not  easy  to  de- 
termine, unless  perhaps  it  was  supposed,  should  corporal  pun- 
ishments be  imposed  upon  him  on  conviction  of  this  ofl'ence, 
relations,  and  others  who  are  immediately  interested  in  these 
matters,  might  be  restrained,  out.  of  pity  for  the  offender, 
from  suing  out  a  commission  of  habitual  drunkenness  against 
him,  when  they  knew  that  such  punishments  would  be  the 
result  of  the  commission — and  thus  would  the  laws  becom.c 
a  mere  dead  letter.  Whether  relations  would  be  so  restrain- 
ed, should  the  laws  receive  a  modification  of  this  kind,  your 


11 

Committee  do  not  pretend  to  say;  nevertheless,  they  must 
observe,  they  have  some  reasons  for  thinking  that  it  will 
make  but  little  difference  with  regard  to  the  execution  of  these 
laws  upon  the  habitual  drunkard,  who  has  no  property,  real 
or  personal,  whether  habitual  drunkenness  be  punished  cor- 
porally or  not,  when  that  execution  is  left  to  be  effected 
through  the  instrumentality  of  relations  alone.  For  since  the 
passage  of  these  laws,  there  has  been  no  instance,  within  the 
knowledge  of  your  Committee,  at  least  in  the  city  and  county 
of  Philadelphia,  of  the  relations  of  a  poor  person  suing  out 
against  him  a  commission  of  habitual  drunkenness;  and  in- 
deed the  expense  and  trouble  incident  to  suing  out  this  com- 
mission will  seldom  fail  to  prevent  relations  from  availing 
themselves  of  it,  when  the  offender  has  not  the  means  to 
satisfy  the  expenses,  and  has  no  property  which  may  be  taken 
from  him,  and  vested  in  trustees  for  the  benefit  of  his  family. 

However  reluctant  your  Committee  would  be  to  swell  the 
criminal  code  of  our  state,  they  still  entertain  the  opinion  that 
habitual  drunkenness  is  a  crime  of  a  more  pernicious  tendency 
than  occasional  drunkenness — that  it  is  entitled  to  severer 
punishments,  and  therefore  should  be  punished  as  a  distinct 
offence,  by  other  punishments  than  those  which  now  exist. 
What  those  other  punishments  ought  to  be,  is  a  matter  that 
requires  much  consideration,  and  is  too  intricate  a  subject  to 
be  determined  by  persons  of  the  inexperience  of  your  Com- 
mittee;  yet  by  way  of  suggestion,  they  may  be  allowed  to 
remark,  that  a  proper  corporal  punishment  inflicted  upon  an 
habitual  drunkard,  who  was  fully  proved  to  be  such,  might 
both  reform  him  and  intimidate  others  from  committing  a 
similar  offence.  By  corporal  punishment  your  Committee 
are  not  to  he  understood  as  meaning  whipping,  or  the  like 
direct  inflictions  upon  the  body,  which  are  cruel  in  their  na- 
ture, and  in  lieu  of  reforming,  harden  the  offender;  and 
which,  fortunately  for  mankind,  the  wisdom  of  the  age  has 
exploded;  but  they  use  the  term  to  express  a  confinement, 
not  in  a  common  gaol  or  penitentiary,  but  in  some  building 
of  a  retired  and  healtb.y  situation,  and  specially  appropriated 
to  the  reception  of  habitual  drunkards. 

With  the  present  facilities  for  obtaining  liquors,  there  does 
not  exist  any  mode  by  which  habitual  drunkards  may  be 
effectually  deprived  of  the  use  of  them,  with  a  reasonable 
prospect  of  reformation  and  without  danger  to  their  morals.* 

*  The  Committee  are  here  to  be  understood  as  expressing  no  opinion  as 
to  the  efficacy  of  Dr.  Cliamber's  Remedy  for  Intemperance,  or  of  any  other 
medicines  of  a  like  description. 


IS 

There  are  but  three  places  of  a  public  nature  in  which  they 
may,  by  their  own  consent  however,  either  express  or  im- 
plied, for  the  laws  give  no  such  powers  to  any  persons,  and 
not  by  compulsion,  be  confined  by  their  friends  and  relations, 
and  all  those  places  are  liable  to  serious  and  well-founded  ob- 
jections ;  and  it  would  be  sheer  folly  to  attempt  to  debar  them 
from  liquors  and  yet  allow  them  their  personal  liberty.  Those 
places  are  Hospitals,  Pooj'-houses,  and  Gaols.  Hospitals, 
besides  being  expensive  and  of  course  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  poor,  are  subject  to  this  disadvantage — they  are  governed 
by  general  rules  which  are  not  calculated  to  reform  the  pa- 
tient, but  to  heal  a  particular  disease  under  which  he  may 
be  suffering,  and  v/hen  that  is  effected  he  is  immediately  dis- 
charged. In  addition  it  should  be  remarked,  that  the  great 
number  of  persons  labouring  under  all  kinds  of  diseases, 
which  always  crowds  hospitals,  renders  them  unhealthy, 
converts  them  into  places  of  public  resort,  and  destroys  that 
sort  of  tranquility  and  retirement,  which  is  so  essentially  ne- 
cessary to  complete  the  reformation  of  the  habitual  drunkard. 
Hence  it  is  that  few  habitual  drunkards  have  beenpermanently 
reformed  by  a  residence  therein.  To  your  Committee,  who 
believe  that  habitual  drunkenness  is  a  moral  as  well  as  a  phy- 
sical disease,  and  requires  a  remedy  that  will  operate  both  upon 
the  mind  and  the  body,  this  does  not  therefore  appear  extraor- 
dinary. Poor-houses  and  gaols  are  every  way  more  objection- 
able as  residences  for  habitual  drunkards  than  hospitals,  prin- 
cipally because  they  are  receptacles  for  the  worst  and  most 
degraded  of  men,  whose  morals  are  of  the  lowest  order,  and 
with  whom  an  association  is  sure  to  produce  contamination: 
moreover,  the  circumstance  of  a  person's  having  once  resided 
in  either  of  them  for  the  shortest  possible  time,  will  forever 
afterwards  exclude  him  from  respectable  society.  Other  and 
powerful  objections  might  be  urged  against  such  places  as 
residences  for  drunkards,  but  those,  thus  briefly  stated,  will, 
it  is  presumed,  be  deemed  sufficient  to  show  that  they  are 
inadequate  to  a  permanent  reformation  of  such  persons,  and 
to  prove  the  necessity  of  buildings  being  erected  and  main- 
tained exclusively  for  the  reception  of  habitual  drunkards. 

A  confinement  in  a  building  of  the  kind  last  mentioned, 
for  one  or  more  years,  as  the  nature  of  the  case  might  require, 
together  with  a  suitable  diet  and  exercise,  would  afford  the 
habitual  drunkard  opportunities  for  reflection,  and  would  be 
such  a  change  in  his  habits  and  course  of  life  as  might  per- 
haps wean  him  forever  from  the  vice  of  drunkenness. 

The  expense  of  erecting  and  maintaining  such  an  establish- 


18 

ment  in  each  county,  might  easily  be  defrayed  by  a  tax  to 
be  levied  for  that  particular  purpose,  upon  all  taverns  in  that 
county.  In  order  to  be  clearly  understood  upon  this  point, 
which  your  Committee  regard  as  very  important,  and  entitled 
at  least  to  inquiry,  they  will  take  up  any  particular  portion 
of  the  state;  for  instance,  the  city  and  county  of  Philadel- 
phia, in  which  there  are  without  doubt  twenty-five  hundred 
licensed  taverns,  to  say  nothing  of  the  vast  number  of  tip- 
pling houses,  which,  being  violations  of  the  law,  cannot  enter 
into  an  investigation  of  this  kind.  If  an  annual  tax,  exclu- 
sive of  the  sum  to  be  paid  for  the  license,  of  twenty  dollars 
were  levied  upon  each  of  those  taverns,  a  yearly  sum  oi  fifty 
thousand  dollars  would  be  created;  the  first  payment  of 
which  might  be  appropriated  to  the  erection  of  an  establish- 
ment for  the  reception  of  the  habitual  drunkards  residing  in 
the  said  city  and  county  upon  the  plan  proposed,  and  the 
subsequent  payments  to  its  support.  Such  a  building  with 
such  an  income,  would  be  sufficient  to  support  all  such  drunk- 
ards in  the  said  city  and  county  ;  and  so  would  it  be  with 
every  other  city  or  county  in  the  state  ;  for  your  Committee 
are  convinced  that  the  number  of  drunkards  in  any  particu- 
lar place,  always  does  and  will  bear  a  relative  proportion  to 
the  number  of  taverns  therein  existing;  so  that  no  fears  need 
be  entertained  as  to  the  sufficiency  of  the  tax  for  the  objects 
proposed.  These  establishments  might  be  placed  under  the 
controul  and  direction  of  the  guardians  of  the  poor  of  the 
township  or  district  in  which  the  same  were  located,  or  of 
commissioners  appointed  for  that  special  purpose.  This  plan 
would  cause  good  to  arise  out  of  evil,  or,  if  it  may  be  proper 
i&  use  a  figure  in  a  report,  would  make  taverns,  like  the  spear 
of  Jichilles,  heal  the  very  wounds  they  themselves  had  in- 
flicted. 

Your  Committee  would  therefore  respectfully  propose,  that 
habitual  drunkenness  be  made  a  distinct  oflence  in  the  crimi- 
nal code  of  Pennsylvania,  and  punishable  as  such  by  indict- 
ment, in  addition  to  the  pains  and  penalties  to  which  it  is 
now  subjected  by  the  laws  relative  to  habitual  drunkards — 
that  a  further  tax  of  ^20  or  more,  pej'  annum,  be  imposed 
upon  all  taverns  and  public  houses  in  the  state,  to  be  paid  at 
the  time  the  licenses  for  keeping  such  taverns  and  public 
houses  are  granted  or  renewed,  which  shall  be  appropriated 
to  the  erection  and  support  of  houses  for  the  reception  of  ha- 
bitual drunkards  in  each  of  the  counties — that  proper  rules  be 
adopted  for  the  government  of  the  said  houses — and  that 
whenever  it  shall  be  found  by  inquisition  or  otherwise,  that 


any  person  hath  become  an  habitual  drunkard,  it  shall  be 
lawful  for  the  court  before  whom  the  same  shall  be  returned 
or  tried,  besides  depriving  the  party  of  his  property  if  he 
hath  any,  and  vesting  it  in  trustees  agreeably  to  the  said  laws 
relative  to  habitual  drunkards,  to  order  and  adjudge,  that  the 
said  person  be  confined  in  the  said  house  for  the  reception  of 
habitual  drunkards,  for  one  or  more  years  as  the  said  court 
may  deem  necessary  for  his  reformation,  and  be  treated  there- 
in in  the  manner  prescribed  by  the  said  regulations.  Also 
the  costs  attendant  upon  all  such  inquisitions  or  indictments, 
should  be  paid  by  the  party  so  found  to  be  an  habitual  drunk- 
ard, when  he  has  property  sufficient  for  that  purpose,  but 
when  he  has  none,  by  the  city  or  county  in  which  he  may 
reside;  and  a  reasonable  compensation  should  be  allowed  those 
officers  of  justice  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  execute  the  said 
laws. 

II.  GAMING.* 

Your  Committee  deem  it  altogether  unnecessary  to  enter 
upon  a  detail  of  the  evils  which  arise  to  society  from  this 
dreadful  vice  :  common  sense,  the  opinions  of  the  wise  and 
the  good,  nay,  the  admissions  of  its  very  votaries  and  vic- 
tims, proclaim  it  to  be  one  of  the  bitterest  drugs  that  have 
been  dropped  into  the  cup  of  life.  It  is  sufficient  for  them 
that  it  is  intimately  connected  with  Intemperance,  and  being 
so,  has  been  thought  worthy  of  consideration  by  this  society. 

Your  Committee,  from  their  own  knowledge  and  from  in- 
formation derived  from  creditable  sources,  do  believe  that 
gaming  to  a  very  considerable  extent  is  carried  on  in  the  city 
and  county  of  Philadelphia:  and  one  of  your  Committee  has 
now  in  his  possession  several  written  communications  made 
to  him  as  a  magistrate,  by  respectable  individuals,  complain- 
ing that  certain  of  their  relations  were  constantly  losing  their 
money  by  gaming  at  particular  public  houses,  thereby  de- 
priving their  families  of  the  means  of  support,  and  praying 
the  interference  of  the  law.  But  it  is  not  to  be  supposed 
when  so  many  laws  exist  against  this  crime,  that  it  should 
still  be  practiced  in  the  face  of  day  and  in  the  full  view  of  the 
ministers  of  justice — a  supposition  of  this  kind  would  infer 
such  a  state  of  morals  and  such  a  want  of  respect  for  the  law 
as  are  by  no  means  founded  in  fact,  and  it  is  honourable  to 
the  magistrate  and  to  the  constable,  that  the  dice  box  and  the 
faro-table  or  other  device  for  gaming  are  rarely,  if  ever,  open- 

*  (Vide  Purd.  Dig.  315,  last  ed.) 


15 

ly  exhibited,  even  in  the  suburbs  upon  days  of  public  re- 
joicing; but  the  gaming  to  which  your  committee  allude  is 
that  which  is  carried  on  in  secret  and  retired  places,  removed 
from  the  eye  of  the  officer,  or  under  false  and  cunning  pre- 
tences feigned  for  the  purpose  of  evading  the  laws,  which 
render  the  detection  of  this  crime,  if  not  impossible,  at  least, 
very  difficult.  It  is  to  this  branch  of  gaming  your  Committee 
would  particularly  draw  your  attention,  and  here  it  is  that 
our  laws  prove  to  be  defective.  There  is  always  a  great  dif- 
ficulty in  supporting  prosecutions  for  gaming,  which  are  rare 
in  their  occurrence,  and  therefore  sometimes  unpopular:  the 
parties  to  the  game,  who  are  the  best  and  oftentimes  the  only 
witnesses,  under  false  notions  of  honour,  believe  themselves 
bound  to  disclose  nothing  which  has  a  tendency  to  criminate 
their  companions  in  guilt,  and  of  course  will  not  willingly 
testify ;  and  it  is  too  hazardous  an  experiment  to  venture  such 
a  prosecution  upon  reluctant  testimony,  or  upon  presumptive 
or  circumstantial  evidence.  If  this  defect  of  testimony  be 
incident  to  all  prosecutions  for  gaming  and  tend  to  destroy 
them,  how  much  more  will  it  operate  against  a  prosecution 
the  object  of  which  is  to  punish  an  individual  for  gaming, 
where  that  gaming  has  been  in  some  secret  situation,  and 
where  the  only  witnesses  to  the  fact  are  the  parties  them- 
selves? Officers  of  justice  will  seldom  be  able  to  detect  the 
ofl'enders  in  the  very  act  of  playing.  So  long,  therefore,  as 
this  difficulty  of  detection  exists,  and  it  will  exist  as  long  as 
an  opportunity  for  gaming  is  afforded,  will  the  present  laws 
be  found  to  be  defective  in  restraining  clandestine  gaming. 

Since  then  the  commission  of  this  crime  is  so  hard  to  be 
proved,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  grave  consideration  whether 
the  crime  itself  may  not  be  reached  by  some  legal  provision. 
Your  Committee  believe  that  the  end  of  all  criminal  laws  is 
not  so  much  to  punish  offenders  as  it  is  to  prevent  the  com- 
mission of  crime,  and  that  it  is  in  the  body  politic,  as  it  is 
in  the  human  body,  much  wiser  to  anticipate  the  disease, 
than  to  allow  the  disease  to  arise  and  then  to  apply  the  reme- 
dy. One  of  the  best  modes  to  prevent  the  commission  of 
any  given  crime,  is  to  remove  all  opportunities  and  means 
for  committing  it ;  especially  by  either  depriving  the  parties 
of  the  instruments  by  which  that  crime  is  to  be  perpetrated, 
or  by  throwing  such  obstacles  in  the  way  of  their  obtaining 
them  as  to  amount  to  a  deprivation.  To  allow  a  person  the 
possession  of  a  thing  when  there  is  every  probability  of  his 
misusing  it,  and  afterwards  to  punish  him  in  case  he  does  so. 


16 

is  much  more  harsh  and  unjust  than  to  deprive  him  of  it  in 
the  first  instance,  and  to  render  it  certain  that  he  never  will 
abuse  it.  In  the  one  case  he  is  entrapped  into  the  commis- 
sion of  a  crime,  whilst  in  the  other  he  loses  a  mere  possession, 
but  he  escapes  a  temptation  and  a  real  danger.  The  laws 
above  referred  to  on  gmniTig,  instead  of  absolutely  prohibit- 
ing tavernkeepers  and  others  of  a  like  description,  from  hav- 
ing in  their  possession  any  Billiard  table,  E.  0.  table,  or  other 
device  for  gaming,  regard  only  the  purpose  for  which  those 
things  have  been  set  up  and  maintained,  and  where  there  is 
no  purpose  of  gaming  for  money  and  other  valuable  thing, 
permit  such  persons  to  possess  them.  To  suffer  tavern- 
keepers  to  keep  such  articles  in  their  taverns,  even  for  the 
amusement  of  their  customers,  is  to  offer  facilities  for  gam- 
ing, and  to  hold  out  strong  inducements  to  all  persons,  particu- 
larly to  the  young,  to  resort  to  places  where  their  morals 
and  manners  are  sure  to  be  corrupted  ;  and  should  even  the 
publican  himself  be  free  from  any  sinister  motive,  the  pro- 
bability is  great,  nay,  it  may  be  said  to  be  a  certainty,  that 
these  things  will  be  converted  to  gaming  without  his  own 
knowledge  :  the  mode  or  manner  in  which  the  game  is  to  be 
conducted,  may  be  settled  by  the  parties  before  they  enter 
his  house  ;  he  may  be  ignorant  of  the  arrangement,  and  the 
game  itself,  in  its  commencement,  progress  and  termination, 
may  present  only  the  appearance  of  amusement.  Your  Com- 
mittee are  assured  that  this  arrangement  has  been  frequently 
adopted  and  practiced.  When  tavernkeepers  are  allowed  to 
possess  these  things,  it  is  hard  to  determine  for  what  purpose 
they  are  kept,  and  an  officer  of  justice  who  enters  a  public 
house  and  finds  them,  cannot  say  that  there  has  been  gaming, 
and  would  not  be  justified,  no  matter  how  strong  his  own 
conviction  might  be  of  the  guilt  of  the  parties,  in  arresting 
the  landlord  and  the  persons  present ;  but  when  tavernkeep- 
ers are  absolutely,  under  any  pretence  whatever,  forbidden 
to  have  them,  the  possession  itself,  unaccompanied  by  any 
other  proof,  would  he  prima  facie  evidence  of  the  gaming, 
and  would  be  sufficient  to  support  a  prosecution. 

Your  Committee  would  for  these  reasons  propose  that  no 
tavernkeeper  or  other  public  housekeeper  should  be  permitted 
to  have  in  his  possession,  under  any  pretence  whatever,  any 
Billiard  table,  E.  0.  table,  or  other  device  for  gaming, 
under  such  severe  pains  and  penalties  as  would  be  sufficient 
to  deter  them  from  violating  the  law. 


17 

III.  VIOLATIONS  OF  THE  SABBATH.* 

With  regard  to  the  laws  respecting  viola tio)is  of  t/ie  Sab- 
hath,  there  is  very  little  to  be  observed  or  to  be  corrected ;  and 
your  Committee  have  only  to  propose  that  the  ^d  Sect,  of  the 
Act  of  1705,  entitled  "An  Act  to  restrain  people  from  la- 
bour on  the  first  day  of  the  week,"  which  empowers 
Constables,  and  by  virtue  of  their  office,  requires  of  them  to 
search  public  houses  suspected  to  entertain  persons  drinking 
and  tippling  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  commonly  called 
Sunday,  or  part  thereof,  and  them  when  found,  quietly  to 
disperse,  and  in  case  of  refusal,  to  bring  the  persons  refus- 
ing before  the  next  Justice,  who  may  commit  such  persons 
to  the  stocks,  or  bind  them  to  their  good  behaviour,  as  to 
him  shall  seem  requisite  ;  and  declares  that  the  keepers  of 
such  public  houses  as  shall  countenance  or  tolerate  any  such 
practices,  being  convicted  thereof,  by  the  view  of  a  single 
magistrate,  his  own  confession,  or  the  proof  of  one  or  more 
credible  witnesses,  shall  for  every  such  ofl'ence,  forfeit  and 
pay  ten  shillings  as  and  for  the  uses  therein  specified  ;  should 
be  modified  in  such  a  way  as  to  allow  such  constables  and 
magistrates  a  reasonable  compensation  for  their  services,  and 
to  make  the  city  or  county  in  which  the  ofience  shall  be 
committed,  liable  for  the  costs  and  expenses  attendant  upon 
any  such  prosecution,  in  case  the  offender  shall  be  unable  to 
satisfy  the  same  ;  and  also  the  Constables  ought  to  be  com- 
pelled to  perform  the  said  services  under  the  direction  of  a 
Magistrate  or  ol  some  other  fit  person. 

AH  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

JOSEPH  M.  DORAN,     ") 

JOHN  GOODMAN,  I  Committee. 

L.  P.  GEBHARD,  M.  D.J 

February  14th,  1828. 


•  Vide  Purd.  Dig.  776,  last  ei. 


-WJ,'' 


